‘Stand down,’ he said after hitting redial.

‘I’ll be going for my afternoon walk now,’ Sami said. ‘I expect my room to be clean when I get back. I also expect full cooperation from this point on.’

CHAPTER 35

Goulburn Correctional Centre, Goulburn, NSW, Australia

JAX counted again, both breaths and seconds.

He kicked off his blanket, pivoted and placed both his bare feet on the concrete floor. It no longer felt like ice; summer was beckoning, Hell-frozen-over starting to thaw. He walked to his box shelves, just like he did every night after lights-out, only a little earlier on this unusually bright evening. Not needing to bend over or lie on the floor to find what he needed, he simply grabbed the kettle from the top shelf.

Behind him Khalil stirred.

Jax turned his head and saw his cellmate reposition the brick-like prison pillow under his head. He returned his attention to the kettle, all good to go. He didn’t need the torch tonight, a steady stream of silver moonlight eating into the gloom. Holding the plastic kettle in his right hand – a generic Chinese piece of rubbish that had cost him $80 through the buy-up – he popped the lid and fished out a plastic bag from the cool water.

Again, Khalil stirred.

Jax glanced at his cellmate, who’d rolled over in his sleep. He placed the still-open kettle on his bedside table and jumped back into bed with the plastic bag after shaking off the water.

He pulled the zip-lock apart and removed both the mobile phone and its charger from the bag. He was still in awe of how small the phone was. Measuring just 71.8 × 23.6 × 13 millimetres, the Zanco Fly Phone weighed just twenty-one grams. And it was completely plastic, all the electronics made with a conductive polymer that negated the need for metal. It was like the phone had been designed with metal detectors and concealment in mind. For criminals. For terrorists.

Jax thought he was going to be given some speciality ASIO kit when they’d told him their plan. He imagined they had their very own Q from James Bond – a bespectacled technology whiz in a laboratory somewhere, testing tech that was fifty years away from hitting a shelf. And then they gave him a Chinese-built burner that they’d bought online for $60. Maybe Q had become a mass marketer.

He plugged in the charger and connected the midget mobile to the power socket next to his bed.

Beep! Beep! As soon as he flicked the switch on the wall socket, the LCD screen on the phone turned bright green as it barked twice, a noise that seemed too big for a phone so small.

‘What the fuck?’ said Khalil. ‘What was that?’

He lifted his head from his pillow and turned towards Jax.

‘Is that a phone?’ Khalil said. ‘Serious? You got a phone?’